After a year of fundraising initiatives that culminated in a corporate trivia evening at the Two Oceans Aquarium in October, Varsity College Cape Town handed over a fully-equipped mobile library to John Pama Primary school in Nyanga on Monday 24 November.
Each learner also received a bookmark with a special message to encourage a love for reading.
The Masixhasane Literacy Project is Varsity College’s 2014 national corporate social investment (CSI) initiative. The mobile library units are dispatched to disadvantaged schools and communities throughout South Africa. Through these mobile libraries, Masixhasane aims to generate a passion for reading and to eradicate illiteracy in disadvantaged schools and rural communities. Less than 10% of roughly 24 500 South African schools have a functional library.
Varsity College Student Relations Manager Ashleigh Holland said: “The Masixhasane Literacy Project does incredible work to help lay the foundations of literacy in South Africa. As an academic institution, Varsity College understands the lasting value behind the drive for literacy, and [we] are so glad that we are able to support this initiative. We know that this will make an invaluable impact on the lives of the children at John Pama Primary School.”
The fundraising initiatives were real team efforts with VC Cares (the Varsity College student community committee) and various students across the country working hard at organising events such as golf days, comedy evenings and corporate quiz evenings to raise funds for purchasing the library units for selected schools.
Varsity College wishes to thank the Two Oceans Aquarium for providing the venue for free, AV Staging Worx for sponsoring the sound and lighting, and Pub Quiz Nite for sponsoring the quizmaster – all playing a pivotal role in the success of the corporate trivia evening.
Due to the success of all its CSI events, Varsity College has decided to continue with the Masixhasane Literacy Project initiative in 2015. Should anyone like to get involved with sponsorships for 2015, the contact people are the Student Relations Managers on each campus. Go to http://www.varsitycollege.co.za/contact-us.aspx for contact numbers.
The Two Oceans Aquarium would like to congratulate Varsity College and VC Cares for this wonderful contribution to the fight against illiteracy in South Africa. Well done!
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